Lenovo’s ‘Diversity by Design’ and Global Accessibility Awareness Day

There is a continuous movement of articles and view pieces speaking about how the tech marketplace could and need to clearly do the job tougher at addressing the necessities of distinctive demands folks and groups.

But though the industry’s over-all document on accessibility could be superior, some individual vendors, these kinds of as Lenovo, have built accessibility a central difficulty organizationally and in their business enterprise and improvement processes. Let’s look at the bulletins Lenovo manufactured to emphasize World-wide Accessibility Consciousness Day (GAAD).

Also see: Rethinking Tech Layout With an Accessibility-Very first Approach 

GAAD and the Tech Marketplace

So what is GAAD? Initially, motivated by a blog posted in 2011 by website developer Joe Devon, GAAD aims to enhance recognition and spark improvements that make technological know-how items and expert services far more available and helpful to the believed 1 billion folks globally who wrestle with disabilities, which includes visible, audial, motor and cognitive impairments. GAAD supporters advise next the World-wide-web Articles Accessibility Pointers (WCAG) that the Globally Website Consortium (W3C) initially released in 1997.

With virtually a quarter century of arranging, exertion and funding powering it, you would consider that WCAG (now WCAG 2.) has built a great offer of development, right? Not rather.

In actuality, a 2020 WebAIM review analyzed 1 million home web pages for accessibility problems and uncovered that 98.1 percent of property pages contained at the very least one particular WCAG 2. failure (top to sizeable problems). Moreover, the million household webpages analyzed averaged 60.9 problems every single, such as lacking and reduced distinction textual content and vacant one-way links and buttons.

For unimpaired staff and individuals, these mistakes are normally minor inconveniences. However, this kind of mistakes can create critical impediments for a multitude of disabled people today. In change, as people, businesses, international locations and areas have turned more and extra towards utilizing electronic providers and equipment in education and learning, workplaces, federal government and commercial processes and recreation. This implies that inaccessible systems are hindering hundreds of millions of disabled people today from fully residing, mastering and working.

In essence, accessibility is vitally essential to folks and organizations around the globe.

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Lenovo’s Diversity by Style and GAAD 2022

What has Lenovo been doing to make its answers and expert services more obtainable? In 2020, the business made a new Product or service Range Business office (PDO) developed to ensure that Lenovo solutions have been formulated with “Diversity by Design” – that is, in line with range, fairness and inclusion (DE&I) objectives.

To obtain this, varied teams get the job done in item setting up and execution phases, and the PDO also consults with a wide range of numerous end users to validate designs and supply suggestions. Last but not least, Lenovo encourages partnerships with personnel useful resource teams and variety associates like its accessibility and inclusion advisor, Haben Girma (the initially deaf/blind person to graduate from Harvard Regulation Faculty).

All those and other attempts led to bulletins coinciding with GAAD 2021. This year’s GAAD 2022 impressed new Lenovo posts and bulletins, including:

• A commentary by Ada Lopez, supervisor and program director for Lenovo PDO that features her feelings on vetting 38 company products for accessibility, and the launch of a new “Accessibility Consultation” system and variety. Lopez shares some examples of the benefits the corporation has shipped, as nicely her thoughts on the long term of Lenovo PDO.
• A article by Thorsten Stremlau, CTO and government director of Lenovo’s Industrial Solution Portfolio about a recent collaboration concerning the firm and Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan for Lenovo’s Variety Metropolitan areas Marketing campaign– an initiative shedding light on the need for kindness in all communities. Diagnosed with motor neuron condition (MND) – also recognized as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – in 2017, Dr. Scott-Morgan delivered insights to Lenovo and its companions on producing accessibility answers to develop better encounters for men and women with disabilities. Stremlau also discusses how the Covid-19 pandemic has amplified Lenovo’s target on mental health and assisting these afflicted by anxiety, PTSD and other pandemic-relevant circumstances.
• An write-up discovering a partnership among Lenovo Turkey and BlindLook to turn into the to start with laptop or computer brand in Turkey to cater to people who are visually impaired. As a result of the partnership, all Lenovo notebooks and desktops will be appropriate with audio simulation technology developed to allow increased access for end users. Those people include 16 simulations in Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon Types that are built to aid impaired users learn prevalent duties, these types of as how to surf the internet, how to use workplace apps and insights on making use of the keyboard.

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Far more Productive Lives

The posts and announcements celebrating GAAD 2022 paint a brilliant image of Lenovo PDO and the company’s attempts to build available professional items and expert services whilst continuing to pursue its range, equity and inclusion goals.

The wide aim of the company’s DE&I efforts reflects its ambitions in this space, as very well as the extent of Lenovo’s around the globe business. With supporting operations in around 60 countries and profits in about 180 international locations, the company’s literal worldwide attain suggests that the advantages of Lenovo PDO and its technologies accessibility approach can possibly arrive at most of the 1 billion folks struggling with disabilities and aid them appreciate fuller, far more successful life.

Also see: Digital Transformation Manual: Definition, Sorts & Tactic